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Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

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Book at Bedtime: The Valley at the Centre of the World

Steven Robertson

Malachy Tallack

Robin Brooks

Eilidh McCreadie

Book at Bedtime: The Valley at the Centre of the World: Episode 1

The Valley at the Centre of the World

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, The Valley at the Centre of the World, Episode 1

Malachy Tallack's novel of love and inheritance set in a community struggling to survive.

Malachy Tallack's novel exploring love, grief, community and inheritance on the west coast of Shetland. Abridged by Robin Brooks. Read by Steven Robertson.

In a remote valley on the west coast of Shetland, Sandy takes his first tentative steps in crofting as his home life falls apart. 

Read by Steven Robertson

Abridged by Robin Brooks

Producer: Eilidh McCreadie

Malachy Tallack's debut novel is a quiet yet powerful study of contemporary rural Scotland that asks what remains when a way of life vanishes. Set on the rugged west coast of Shetland, in a community only ever a few steps away from extinction, Tallack's novel tackles big questions about land, inheritance and belonging without ever losing sight of the humanity and integrity of its characters.

Malachy Tallack is the author of two non-fiction titles which fused nature writing, history and memoir; Radio 4 Book of the Week 60 DEGREES NORTH and THE UN-DISCOVERED ISLANDS. Malachy won a New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust in 2014 and the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2015. He is a singer-songwriter, author and journalist.

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